Sourdough Pandesal

These sourdough pandesals are soft, light, and airy with a beautiful hint of sour. So now, fill your house with a yummy smelling, yeastless pandesal.

This is my fourth time baking with sourdough; the first two were a failure. The next one is my easy sourdough breakfast buns. After my success in baking them, I experimented - I took my pandesal yeast recipe. I converted it to sourdough - and sourdough enhances the flavors and textures of my pandesal.

Sourdough pandesal is super soft and fluffy, and that hint of tang adds something special. They are perfect for sweet filling or palaman.

How to make sourdough pandesal

This recipe makes 15 pandesal rolls and can be easily doubled or halved if desired. However, the recipe requires quite a bit of a starter to plan and make a preferment if needed. I prefer to measure my ingredients by weight rather than volume because it gives more accurate and consistent results.

I keep my starter at 100% hydration, which means equal flour and water weights. You can refer to my tutorial videos on making sourdough starters from scratch if you are new to sourdough baking.

Soft sourdough pandesal

Place all of the dough ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook and knead until elastic. I have a video showing how you can check your dough if it has been kneaded properly.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large bowl. Allow rising at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours. Of course, if you live in a warmer place, the proofing time is lesser. 

Shape each dough into balls; please refer to my video tutorial on shaping buns or rolls.

Roll the dough on an ungreased work surface, creating surface tension. Then place the formed balls into a buttered 33x23 cm (13x9-inch) baking dish.

After that, cover them with a plastic film and rise for 6 to 8 hours. You want the pandesal rolls to be quite puffy and fill the pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius (350F) for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Bake your sourdough pandesal until an instant-read thermometer reads 93C/200F.

After that, remove the pandesal from the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack.

Serve warm with coffee and palaman.

Here's a sample of the baking schedule:

If you want to serve the sourdough pandesal at noon:

• 2 nights before you plan on doing the pandesal, feed your starter right before bed.
• The following day at around 10 in the morning, mix the ingredients (+knead) and let the dough rise for 8 to 12 hours, depending on your kitchen temperature.
• That evening, before you go to bed, form the dough into balls and place it into your prepared baking dish. Let it rise overnight (6 to 8 hours). 
• The following day, bake the sourdough pandesal once they rise to fill the baking pan.

If you have tried this recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please don't forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you. You can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube to see what I am getting up to.

For 15 servings, you will need:

• 150g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) lukewarm milk (I used whole milk with 3% milkfat)
• 45g (3 tbsp) butter, softened
• 220g (1 cup) active sourdough starter, 100% hydration
• 400g (3 cups + approx. 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
• 70g (approx. 1/2 cup) bread flour
• 100g (1/2 cup) sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, room temperature, and lightly beaten
• 72 grams (1/3 cup) vegetable oil

Other:

• fine bread crumbs for coating the pandesal

Procedure:

Preparing the dough: an hour before going to bed or first thing in the morning

1. Autolyse: In the bowl of a stand mixer, add flour, 100g of lukewarm milk, and the active sourdough starter. Mix until a rough dough forms. Cover with plastic film (poke some holes) and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes.
2. After 30 to 60 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients and knead using a dough hook until the dough is soft and elastic. It is a bit sticky, but please resist the urge to add more flour because we want our pandesal to be very soft. I will not suggest how long you should knead your dough because many factors affect our dough. But I recommend doing a windowpane test to ensure that your dough has been kneaded properly. Check my video above.

First rest

1. Transfer the dough to a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover and allow rise at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours (depending on how active your sourdough starter is and your kitchen temperature), or until doubled. I recommend placing a rubber band around the outside of your container at the level of the dough. It will then be easy to see when the dough has risen double its size.

Dividing and shaping the pandesal

1. Grease the baking pan. Once the dough has risen to about double its volume. It is ready for shaping. First, weigh the whole dough, divide it into 15 equal portions, and place them into your baking dish.
2. Cover the dish with plastic film and leave the dough to rise again for the final time for 6 to 8 hours at room temperature, or until the rolls are quite puffy, and fill the pan.

Baking

1. 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
2. Drizzle some breadcrumbs on top and bake the pandesal for 18 to 20 minutes, or until well browned. Bake your sourdough until an instant-reader thermometer reads 93C/200F.
3. Remove from the oven and tap the top of the rolls; if the sound is hollow, it is ready to be cooled. If not, put it back in the oven and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until they are ready.
4. Serve warm if you like and allow to cool before serving.